Surgical appliance



y 1955 F. w. KOFF SURGICAL APPLIANCE- Filed-Dec. 12, 1952 Fig. 2

Fred W. Kaff IN V EN TOR. 405:.

United States Patent 0 SURGICAL APPLIANCE Fred W. Kotf, Clifton, N. J.

Application December 12, 1952, Serial No. 325,619

2 Claims. (Cl. 128-4541) This invention relates to a surgical applianceand more particularly to a flexible dilator.

The application of heat in the treatment of certain ailments is of knowntherapeutic value. When applying heat to the various body openings it isa common practice to use a dilator. However, some of the openings in thebody in which dilators have been used have an inner lining or layer ofmuscular convolutions which resist dilation and cause discomfort to thepatient when such surgical appliance is used. It is therefore theprimary object of this invention to provide a dilator which is capableof being made rigid for insertion but after entering the body openings,pressure can be reduced within the confines of the dilator to permit thedilator to more readily conform to the shape of the body opening and tothus afford the patient an increased degree of comfort.

Still further objects of the invention reside in the provision of asurgical appliance that is strong and durable, simple in constructionand manufacture, capable of being readily produced for distribution at arelatively low cost to the medical profession, and which surgicalappliance can be constructed from readily available materials.

These, together with the various ancillary objects and features of theinvention which will become apparent as the following descriptionproceeds, are attained by this surgical appliance, a preferredembodiment of which has been illustrated in the accompanying drawings,by way of example only, wherein:

Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view showing the various componentelements of the invention; and

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view as taken along the plane of thelongitudinal axis of the dilator.

With continuing reference to the accompanying drawings wherein likereference numerals designate similar parts throughout the various views,reference numeral 10 is used to generally designate the dilatorcomprising the 4 present invention. The dilator 10 includes a flexibletubular cylindrical body 12 formed from latex or other suitable materialwhich is provided with a closed end portion 14. The upper end of thetubular body 12 is attached to a hard rubber mouth portion 16 which isflared at its open end 18 and which is provided with internal threads 20for threaded engagement with the threads 22 on a cap 24. The cap 24 isadapted to seat within the mouth portion 18 and is provided with ahandle portion 26 for enabling the cap to be readily rotated. The bottomportion of the cap 24 is concave in shape as at 28.

As the body 12 is flexible, there is provided a filling of water orother suitable substantially incompressible fluid which when pressure isapplied thereon by means of rotating the cap 24 downwardly after thebody 12 has been completely filled causes the body 12 to become rigid.Because of the flexibility of the body 12 with the controlled rigiditythereof it can be made of greater length than previous rigid dilatorsand is thus better suited for dilation of the body openings sincepressure can be decreased after insertion by letting some of the fluidcontained therein escape or by simply rotating the cap 24 outwardly.When it is desired to treat certain diseases such as cancer and tumorswith radioactive particles, the body 12 can be filled with water whichhas been made radioactive or any other suitable solution of radioactiveparticles.

Since from the foregoing, the construction and advantages of thissurgical appliance are readily apparent, further description is believedto be unnecessary.

However, since numerous modifications will readily occur to thoseskilled in the art after a consideration of the foregoing specificationand accompanying drawings, it is not intended to limit the invention tothe precise embodiment shown and described, but all suitablemodifications and equivalents may be readily resorted to that fallwithin the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. A surgical appliance comprising a flexible tubular cylindrical bodyhaving a flexible closed end portion, said body having a substantiallyrigid other end portion, said rigid end portion being threaded, asubstantially incompressible fluid filling in said body, and a capthreadedly secured to said rigid end portion expanding, pressurizing andrigidifying said flexible body to enable the insertion thereof.

2. A surgical appliance comprising a flexible tubular cylindrical bodyhaving a flexible closed end portion, said body having a substantiallyrigid other end portion, said rigid end portion being threaded, asubstantially incompressible fluid filling in said body, and a capthreadedly secured to said rigid end portion expanding, pressurizing andrigidifying said flexible body to enable the insertion thereof, said caphaving a concave bottom portion, the threads on said cap and said rigidend portion being adapted to seal said rigid end portion while providingadvance for said cap to control the rigidity and pressure in said body.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,552,255 Wilson Sept. 1, 1925 1,610,947 Hosmer Dec. 14, 1926 1,873,427Kirk Aug. 23, 1932

